Somalia: UN envoy appeals for end to factional fighting in capital

The top United Nations envoy for faction-riven Somalia today appealed to the leaders of warring parties in Mogadishu, the capital, to halt their fighting and allow families trapped in the crossfire to return safely to their homes.

“The renewal and escalation of fighting this week, with the tragic and avoidable suffering inflicted on civilians in Mogadishu, especially women and children, is unacceptable,” Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Special Representative François Lonsény Fall said in a statement.

“I urge all sides to consider the loss of life, injuries and other suffering caused to hundreds of families this week and to put aside their weapons,” he added.

He appealed to the leaders of the warring forces in Mogadishu to join the ongoing parliamentary process in the town of Baidoa in seeking to end the anarchy in the Horn of Africa country, which has been torn by factional fighting ever since the collapse of President Muhammad Siad Barre’s regime 15 years ago.

“Somalia has taken an important step forward by convening its first parliament within the country,” he said. “The challenges it faces are well known and the conflict unfolding in Mogadishu is one of those challenges, pointing to the need for the Transitional Federal Institutions to urgently finalize a national security and stabilization plan.”

The plan is a vital step in effecting the necessary security sector reforms, including the creation of a Somali national army and police force in a country which has been without a functioning national government since 1991.

“My office has already initiated discussions with national and international stakeholders for the establishment of terms of reference for a national security and stabilization plan,” Mr. Fall said.

“I look forward to working with (the regional group) IGAD, the African Union and the Somali Transitional Federal Institutions, to help develop and finalize this plan, in line with appeals already made by the UN Security Council.”

IGAD, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, comprises Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.